Never liked Scotties videos, maybe because i have been wrenching for 20 years. 10 of them for a major German corporation.
I think Eric the car guy is better, he is more informative and he was fixing a 4th gen a few times in his videos. Oh, there is also a dude with thick German accent in California, he has a Toyota channel, cool cat too ;-)

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If you are not adept at wrenching at cars, Scotty and his bottom line when it comes to purchasing certain vehicles seem fine. His general conclusion on going with a Toyota or Lexus or quality used vehicles is not bad advice . . . though no great leaps of thought are required for this. He's not a fan of gizmos or cars with engineering for engineering aggrandizement (which hits home as I am a BMW nut), but for most people this is absolutely solid advice. I also agree with one of his videos where he says to buy parts considering the value of the car, but generally, if you want the car to continue running, get high quality parts. Nothing revelatory there, but its not wrong in my opinion.

I do not find his mechanical ability to be anything worth emulating, but I also have not spent much time watching his videos so I cannot really say. I just know I saw one of his videos where he replaced a valve cover gasket set and didnt clean out the valve cover, not even a brief wipe with a shop towel. Maybe thats a luxury I have as a non-mechanic that enjoys working on cars, but I thought it would have taken a second to shoot some brake cleaner on it or something.

Also no torque values were considered in that video. I know some weekend warriors that wrench on their BMWs that subscribe to the guten-tight and feel value of torque, and I know what they are saying, but on some of the engines, spares are getting sparse and I really am not too inclined to let something as easy as a quick torque value be passed over.

Ive not seen the video mentioned here regarding hardware store compression fittings on brake hydraulic systems, but I would agree, thats dangerous advice.

Yeah, Scotty’s advice concerning Toyota and BMW used purchases is probably solid for a large portion of the population that take their vehicle to the shop for everything.
But for anyone who does most of their own auto service/repair, and loves driving, a used BMW (that has been properly cared for and well maintained) represents a good value for an auto/driving “enthusiast.”

I have owned an 01 IS300, 03 G35 and 10 Genesis 4.6L. And ride motorcycles for fun.
My son bought an 08 328i, 6spd manual at the beginning of the year.
It has more power than the IS300, but less than the G35 and the Genesis.
But it hands down handles better and is more enjoyable to drive, especially when being pushed, than those Japanese/Korean cars.

He bought it for $3500, with 175k miles.
But was super clean inside and out, 2 owner, no wrecks, clean Carfax and great service history. Which is very important when buying any vehicle, but especially a high mileage Euro car.

But that being said, it has required more service in the little under a year he has owned it than any of the other cars I have owned.
But all of it is very doable for DIY types, and at this point you can find instructions (blogs, videos) for almost anything on the E46 and E90 platforms.
He is 18 and this is his first car purchase, I told him I’d help him with maintenance/repairs as he knows the deal on them bankrupting you by taking them to the shop for everything.

He is catching on quick though, did the headlamp replacement units by completely by himself (for cosmetic reasons), and recently changed out the shift bushing by himself (didn’t fail but wanted to clean up excess slop).

He has probably put around $700 into the maintenance and repairs but would have likely been $3k at a shop.
So if you’re not doing any of the work, probably a bad deal.
But if you are, you get a much more rewarding driving experience than a comparably priced Japanese car.
And probably a nicer condition car, dollar for dollar, since they don’t retain their value as well. And you’ll be spending much more on a Japanese car with similar age, mileage and condition.

Overall probably not any harder to work on than a similar year/model Japanese comp, and prices for parts (from online sources) comparable to Japanese.
But just more finicky and going to be more things come up, but when you push the edge of performance/engineering that is going to happen/be the trade off.

Hopefully the oil pan gasket was done. My son loves his 535 but man those BMW's can leak oil. Even at 100,000 miles.

The E90 is a solid car, Im a fan. No iDrive is a plus, manual is a plus (no pesky solenoids that crap out) and honestly the lack of xDrive is fine too . . . unlikely to be important in your neck of the woods.

Looks like he went with the LCI headlights, nice.


Attached is my 06 E91 with xDrive (and iDrive ), many a shipment courtesy of FCPEuro has come with parts aplenty for it, but its been a great car. Even when the electric water pump crapped out, limp mode got me the few miles home and pulling the data through INPA or whatever showed limp mode did its job. I also had an ignition coil go out on me, still made it home with a miss . . . learned that carrying a few spare coils with the N52 is important. Its been across the country, in bad and fine weather. Loves to cruise at 90, gets 26-28 mpg . . . its almost as good a car as my old M5s.

I have the complete Bentley Manual for the E9x on digits, just send me a PM if you want a google drive link to it.

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It’s had the oil pan and oil filter housing gasket done as well as a cooling system overhaul by the previous owner.

Since he’s owned it we’ve done:
Oil, transmission and diff fluid changes, starter, battery, ac recharge.
Had bolts back out of the power steering pulley which caused it to wobble and the serpentine belt to rub.
Thankfully he heard the rattle and caught it before it completely shredded the belt, which can cause it to get sucked into the engine through the crank seal.
However parts of the shredding belt ripped the wiring to the radiator fan.
Replaced the bolts, belt, idler and tensioner pulleys and fan.
Then he also did the lights and shifter bushings as mentioned above.

He does have a BMW software specific scanner which has come in handy. Not as good as ISTA but has come in handy and done it’s job registering the battery and resetting all the codes thrown when the battery died.
As of now running strong (around 185k miles) with no issues or codes, but give it some time.

triethylborane, thanks for the offer. I’ll PM you.

Now that I’ve experienced his, I’m seriously considering getting a 335i with the N54 engine, if I can find the right example at the right price (used car market is jacked up right now).
I know that engine is on another level for reliability “quirks,” but if I can find the right car (low mileage, all common issues done - leaks, cooling, injectors, turbos) I may try to drop some money into it and try to get it around 450 whp (and similar ft-lbs torque), I’ve got a Sheetz with E85 about 2 miles from my house.

Never really been into fast cars (always rode bikes for fun/speed, much better dollar to performance ratio), but they seriously built the N54 and I know some people push way more power than that out of them on stock internals.
So it sounds like a fun “project” and semi-daily driver.

Synthetic Oil vs Conventional Oil - Which Type For Your Car Engine
YouTube · 956,000+ views · 11/7/2017 · by Scotty Kilmer

scotty kilmer oil leak - Bing video

Scotty calls BMWs endless money pits.

I like conventional in my 4runner. Switched to synthetic one time and got "drips" in the garage. switched back to conventional and the garage gets not a single drip.

:

Com on guys....cant you see this joker is NOTHIN BUT A TROLL....dont let him get you fired up for nothin!!!
Pretty sure i saw this (WHATEVER) on other forums talkin chit!

Most used BMW’s out of warranty and/or over 100k miles absolutely are; IF you have to take it to the shop or dealership for all repairs.
Which applies to the vast majority of car owners, so his advice is generally correct for most people.

However many, not all, of their drivetrains (internals) are actually very solid and meant to go long distances.
On those “reliable” drivetrains it is usually the components externally attached that have common failure points that vary by model.

That being said, if you are willing and able to do your own wrenching, though you will have more repairs needed than a comparable Toyota/Honda, many of their models are not any more difficult to work on than said comparables.
And parts purchased from non-dealer sources are typically no more expensive than Japanese counterparts.

And the reward is getting a vehicle that has superior performance in the handling/driving characteristics when compared to a similar Japanese models.
And due to the increased depreciation, a much lower purchase price than a Toyota/Honda when comparing similar models, age, miles, and condition for a vehicle that had a much higher original MSRP.

It all just depends on what you want in a vehicle and its driving experience and what work you are capable of performing on your own, when deciding if a used BMW makes sense.
For 95% of the population Scotty’s advice is probably correct.

My son's n54 is probably making 100hp over stock without that much work or money. It's fun to drive I guess. The time bomb factor is too big for me.
The oil pan gasket just cost him $1K. Sure you could try to DIY that but you need the brace to hold the motor while you remove the subframe? No thanks.
If and when the turbo(s) go it's literally half the value of the vehicle to fix. And you know they will go. That said there's a lot of Lexus models with similar performance, way better reliability, and way better resale.
BMW should really get their $hit together, it's sort of telling you can buy a $60,000 car 11 years later for like $7,000 when it has 92,000 miles on the clock.

I run full synthetic 10w-30 in my 4runner with close to 220k on the clock. Still runs like a champ.

I wonder if I could have run synthetic in my three F225 Yamahas? They did just fine on conventional for 14 years - until I sold her for $60,000. https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrs-lind...ara-78a1b6136/

The F250 is way a better motor, regardless of oil used. I've even run 90w in a pinch.
Sold that motor for $80K and bought 4 rentals in Costa Rica.